Liam Payne’s best friend has told how the One Direction star tried to stop a raging fire with his bare hands during a freak accident in his flat.

In his first full interview since last month’s horrific fire, Andy Samuels said he is convinced the singer’s quick-thinking saved his life.

Andy, 21, was rushed to hospital after his whole body caught alight as he tried to fill a patio heater with gas.

He spent a fortnight in hospital ­undergoing SEVEN skin grafts as they treated him for third-degree burns.

Revealing his horrific scars for the first time, Andy said: “I can still see Liam trying to put out the flames with his hands.

"I was set completely on fire – terror is the only word fit to describe what I was feeling.

“The pain and the panic I felt is ­something no one should have to go through.

"I was the one that was injured, but it was a crazy, horrible experience for Liam to witness as well.”

My hero: Andy says Liam saved his life (Image: Instagram)

Andy said his body burned for what seemed like an eternity after the heater exploded in his face on the balcony of Liam’s flat.

Andy revealed: “He was trying to help me but I thought I was going to die.

“I was running around trying to get enough water. I tore one of his taps off the wall in such a blind panic and eventually threw myself in his shower.

“I looked at my arm at one point and my skin was destroyed and hanging off, it was like a cheese string.

"I don’t remember much except thinking my life was over. It would have broken me to see my best friend like that.”

The fire erupted at Liam’s flat in East London as he was marking his 20th birthday with friends.

It destroyed most of the balcony and it took 35 ­firefighters to put it out. They had to use breathing equipment to battle through the thick smoke.

Liam’s new girlfriend Sophia Smith, 20, was also there and saw her boyfriend’s heroics.

Andy says: “The best thing Liam and Sophia did that night for me was just reassure me and try to keep me calm until the ambulance arrived.

“I was in such a panic. I was also worried I’d burned the building down and they kept talking to me to keep me conscious.”

Andy, from Liam’s home town of Wolverhampton, was rushed to Royal London Hospital with 20 per cent burns all over his body and doctors spent an entire day operating on him, his worried family unsure if he was going to survive.

Horrific: Andy's burns TWO WEEKS after the fire

He said: “I had seven skin grafts where I had third-degree burns and no skin left.

"They took skin from my thigh so I have three grafts on my left arm, three on my chest and one on my right ankle.

“My week in the intensive care unit is a blur. I looked so bad my family didn’t think I’d ever look like me again.”

Liam was a constant ­presence at Andy’s bedside after his transferral by helicopter to Broomfield Hospital in Essex.